Govt accused of ignoring Garnaut's advice

PM - Friday, 22 February , 2008 18:14:00

Reporter: Jane Cowan

MARK COLVIN: Yesterday, Professor Ross Garnaut was the centre of attention. Today the Greens claim that the government's top climate change adviser is "rapidly heading for irrelevance".

Professor Garnaut wants more ambitious targets to fight global warming, but the Federal Government won't budge. The coal industry has taken comfort from what it sees as a cautious stance, but others say the Government is ignoring its own expert.

So, 24 hours after Professor Garnaut released his interim findings, are they already doomed?

Jane Cowan reports.

JANE COWAN: What you think of the Federal Government's decision to stick to the targets it's already set for cutting emissions, depends on who you are. At the doors of Parliament House in Canberra today, there was a mixed response.

The Nationals' senator Barnaby Joyce agrees that Australians might not be ready for the economic impact of making the type of cuts the economist wants.

BARNABY JOYCE: There will be huge economic ramifications from your price of fuel to your price of electricity to whether you've got a job or not.

JANE COWAN: But the Liberals' Sharman Stone couldn't resist a swipe.

SHARMAN STONE: It is rather odd that in particular Senator Wong is being caught like a rabbit in the spotlights, saying "Oops, no. Our policy doesn't change".

JANE COWAN: It's the Greens Senator, Christine Milne, who has delivered the strongest criticism of the Government's decision to stick with its election promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, rather than increase them to as much as 90 per cent.

Senator Milne says Professor Ross Garnaut has gone from being Labor's climate change guru when the report was commissioned last year to being practically irrelevant the moment he started making difficult recommendations.

CHRISTINE MILNE: What the Government said was that they were waiting for the Garnaut report in order to set a 2020 target. What they're now saying is that the Garnaut report will just be one of many inputs, and they're including a whole new range of stakeholder consultations and read for that big business - the cement industry, the coal industry, the aluminium industry and so on.

JANE COWAN: For sure, the coal industry is encouraged by the Federal Government's stance.

JOHN BOSHIER: I think that the statements by Minister Wong have been very sensible.

JANE COWAN: John Boshier is the executive director of the National Generators Forum, and says Professor Garnaut has failed to understand how the electricity market works.

John Boshier says the only way to make the massive cuts Garnaut suggests would be to shut down all of the coal-fired power stations that provide 80 per cent of Australia's power.

JOHN BOSHIER: Yes it's feasible, but very costly. Unless we get clean coal in Australia, then closing coal-fired power stations will be very difficult. And I can see that about half of our electricity will still be generated by coal in the long-term, but it'll need to be clean coal.

JANE COWAN: The climate change minister, Penny Wong, is steadfastly sticking to the 60 per cent target Labor laid out in the election. She says she doesn't quibble with the science behind Professor Garnaut's recommendations, but she doesn't apologise for keeping one eye on the economy at the same time.

PENNY WONG: There is no watering down of the Garnaut report or its status. Ultimately, and I'm sure even you would agree with this. It is for governments to make decisions about issues such as targets. That is a matter for government. You don't contract out decisions as significant to the Australian environment, community and economy to a single individual.

GRAEME PEARMAN: I think they need to be careful of making any commitment to be listened to anyone particularly at this stage.

JANE COWAN: Dr Graeme Pearman was the head of atmospheric research at the CSIRO from 1992 to 2002, and is now a private consultant on climate change.

GRAEME PEARMAN: These are very difficult questions they have to deal with. The climate change issue is… has threats to all sectors of the community.

JANE COWAN: If 24 hours after it's released, the government is already saying that it won't change its targets, does the Garnaut report have legs do you think?

GRAEME PEARMAN: As I say that, I think that at least my reading of what they're saying is that that's their current positions and that's the way it is. I don't really think that in the longer term that they'll be in a position that they won't be flexible if there is sufficient evidence coming out of Garnaut and others that says it needs to be a different target.

My personal view of course is that from a scientific point of view, we do think that the targets will probably have to increase.

JANE COWAN: So you think no matter what it's saying at the moment, the Federal Government will eventually have to toughen its targets?

GRAEME PEARMAN: Maybe that's just the optimist in me, saying that I think this is absolutely essential that the targets are in fact tighter and sooner than perhaps people had wanted. But that's the reality coming out of what we know about the climate change issue.